The football popped out of Deondre Francois’ hands before taking a fortuitous bounce right into the waiting arms of Ro’Derrick Hoskins, a precious souvenir from Florida State’s Gold and Garnet spring game in the Citrus Bowl.

But just as quickly as it had come, it was taken away when Jimbo Fisher waved off the turnover, saying his young quarterback was down by contact instead.

Hoskins wasn’t going to argue with his coach about the play.

“It was cool,” the redshirt junior linebacker said following Saturday’s exhibition. “Once he [Francois] started running, I saw he was bobbling [the football] and then someone else pulled it out and then I picked it up and I was going to run it, but I decided to just go down.”

While the turnover may have been permanently wiped from the stat sheet, Hoskins' performance could not be as easily forgotten. The former Orlando Evans High product registered five tackles, including a sack, and an interception in front of announced crowd of 49,913 fans.

PICTURE GALLERY: See pictures from the 2016 FSU Spring Football game at the Orlando Cirus Bowl on Saturday, April 9, 2016.

(Stephen M. Dowell)

"It was good to have all these fans come, especially to be back in Orlando,” said Hoskins, who estimated at least 20 people, including friends and family, were on hand to watch him play after driving up from South Florida, where they live now.

Hoskins wasn’t the only local high school graduate to play in front of familiar surroundings this weekend. FSU teammates Kermit Whitfield, Jacques Patrick and Deondre Francois were also enjoying the hometown crowd.

The group spoke about what their return would mean earlier this week, according to Hoskins.

“… It was really special because I know they have friends and family out here and they wanted to compete at the highest level and put on a great show for their family and friends and also for the team," he said.

The young quarterback did not panic, but instead embraced the miscue by throwing a touch pass high and...

(Brendan Sonnone)

They didn’t disappoint. Francois finished with 246 yards passing and two touchdowns for the Gold Team, while Patrick rushed for 32 yards and a touchdown for the Garnet Team.

Hoskins’ performance didn’t go unnoticed.

“He made some nice plays,” Fisher said of the linebacker. “As you saw last year, Ro’Derrick at times was our best linebacker – not to take anything away from the other two guys – but I think he has a chance to be a really, really good player.”

If last season was any indication, Fisher’s observation may not be too far away from the truth. In six starts – most of them at middle linebacker – Hoskins recorded 52 tackles with 6.5 tackles for loss. Numbers that ranked him among the leaders (third) on the team in tackles.

On Saturday, he picked up where he left off, including a nifty interception of a Francois pass in the second quarter.

“It was just a zone play and we dropped back in coverage and watched the quarterback eyes,” Hoskins said of the play. “That’s one of the things that I’m good at and we just reacted.”

But Hoskins isn’t ready to rest on his laurels or allow his teammates to do the same this summer.

“We had a great spring,” he said. “[We] just [need to] keep that momentum going into the fall camp. We’re going to be a great group.”

Coincidently, Florida State will be back here at the Citrus Bowl in the fall as the Seminoles open the season against Ole Miss on Monday, Sept. 5. It’s another opportunity for Hoskins and the rest of the Central Florida products to play in familiar surroundings.